5th and Spring

On the night that America voted to make history, voted Barack Obama the 44th President of the United States of America, Ralph Nader ended his career in a spectacularly disgusting fashion by calling Barack an "Uncle Tom":



I never ever want to hear from Ralph Nader or his followers ever again. Truly disgusting.

Watching this made me feel better:



Thanks Benjamin Sarlin!

Labels: Barack Obama, Ralph Nader, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog

I just got this email from President-elect Barack Obama:

CELIA --

I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.

We just made history.

And I don't want you to forget how we did it.

You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change.

I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.

We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next.

But I want to be very clear about one thing...

All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

I want an ambassadorship. Is France available?

Labels: Barack Obama, thank you email

Labels: Barack Obama, Election 2008, Election Night, victory speech

I was so glad that I managed to wake up early to to vote. Although there is a polling place across the street from my loft, I had to walk to the polling place two blocks away, down the street from our art supply store, Raw Materials. One look at the long line across the street from my loft and I picked up my pace - I'd probably be in for just as long a wait.



I walked up Main Street and took my place in line. Not quite around the block, but almost. One of the poll workers kept coming out and checking the line. He spotted a few elderly voters and a man using a cane. He walked up to them and told them there was a special booth for handicapped voters, and would they like to jump ahead in line to vote? He walked them inside the building and would periodically come out to check the line for more disabled voters. Cool. I had tons of nervous energy, but I settled in and fell into conversation with those in line around me and of course the conversation alternated between the cool places to hang out downtown, downtown viewing/victory parties, and the election itself.





I was almost inside the building when the poll worker approached me.

"We have a booth inside that's a little lower, a little shorter than the others. Would you like to come inside and vote using the short booth?"

The people in line around me, the ones I had just met and the neighbors that I recognized from walking Wonton - all laughed uproariously. I imagined that it was like a child's table, low to the ground and covered in Hello Kitty stickers, with crayons to mark my ballot.

"Are you kidding me?"

The poll worker was apologetic, "I don't mean to offend you, I just thought--"

I wasn't offended, I though it hilarious that I was singled out in that long line, not for being a disabled voter, but for being a short voter. I declined, determined to wait like all the other, taller voters around me. The poll worker went outside, looking for disabled, elderly, and short voters.

Once inside the building there were places to sit and the poll worker instructed us where to sit so that we wouldn't get out of order. Then he informed me, "You know, you can't change your mind anymore. There's someone else in there using the short voting booth."

I laughed, "That's okay, I'll wait. But can I take a picture of the short booth?"



Seen in line to vote: Hal Bastian from the DCBID, Kitty, Matthew S., Abby and her owners, Mahogany, Olivia, and former loftmates Kedric, Tim and Bethany.

Labels: 90013, 90014 Hayward Hotel, downtown Los Angeles, Election 2008, Hayward Hotel, LACan

One more day. I don't trust the polls and I have a little bit more faith in what the the bookmakers are doing, but still - don't get cocky people!

Labels: Barack Obama, Election 2008

My Gossipy Neighbor and I met for brunch at The Nickel the other weekend - we love that we see everybody and their mother dining there. Then I saw this guy at the cash register, paying for his to-go order. Motioning to him, I said to my Gossipy Neighbor, "Look at this guy, he's dressed like a cholo at Easter." The guy then turned around and I recognized my friend and makeup artist extraordinaire, Jayson. Oops. I laughed, then Jayson recognized me and came over to say hi.

Of course I had to tell him, "Jayson, you look like a cholo at Easter." I think Jayson knows I meant that in the best possible sense of the word. BTW, it's his birthday this Friday - Happy Birthday Jayson!

Who else have I seen at The Nickel in the past few weeks? Jayson, Gronk, Miguel Osuna, Ruel and his partner Patrick, Luke and Summer, Bert Green with a group of hot-looking men, Stella Dottir and Julie Swayze of Metropolis Books, Neon Boy and Shannon, Neon Boy (again) and The Gentrifier (and what looked like all their aunts), Eric without Isis, and D and A. Am I leaving anyone out?

Even Jonathan Gold has been in (though I didn't see him).

Labels: 90013, downtown Los Angeles, neighbors, The Nickel

My cousins in Hawaii forwarded this link to my brother Angel - a little snippet on MSNBC about the Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu where Barack Obama once worked as a teenager (his first job!). The coconut-frond hat maker in the article? My cousin Eddie.

Labels: Barack Obama, first job, Honolulu

Photo courtesy of trainedmonkey.com

My Shih Tzu, Wonton, has commandeered my laptop to update his blog.

Labels: blogging, shih tzu, wonton

Twelve days until Election Day.

Labels: Barack Obama, MC Yogi

During his last visit to Los Angeles, Cousin Angel forgot to pack swim trunks. So he asked my dad if he could borrow a pair. Minutes later, my dad pulls out his swim trunks from 1972 (I'm still trying to locate a picture of my dad wearing the swim trunks) and Cousin Angel is all over it. Here's Cousin Angel wearing the swim trunks and holding a disco ball aloft. Thankfully this pose doesn't show the camel toe.

Labels: Cousin Angel, disco swimmer

I brought our Prius in to the downtown Toyota dealership for servicing and took advantage of their courtesy shuttle to get back home. When the car was ready, they sent the shuttle to retrieve me. I probably shouldn't have gotten into it with the other passenger, but I felt my neighborhood needed defending.

Let me back up: I opened the back door of the courtesy shuttle, climbed in and said hello to the driver and passenger. We rode in silence, but when the driver stopped at the corner before making a right turn, some water splashed onto the windshield.

Driver: Oh, look at that! Raindrops! It's raining.
Me: Good, I'm done with this heat.
Passenger: (laughs) Oh, I don't think that's rain.
Driver: No, I heard it was going to rain this weekend.
Passenger: (laughs) In this neighborhood, that could be, you know, anything coming out of these windows.
Me: (looking up at the SB Manhattan, SB Lofts, Hayward Hotel) Oh please, this neighborhood is not that bad. Bodily fluids are not being squirted out the windows onto the street.
Passenger: I used to work down the street on Spring... I'd see all sorts of things.
Me: Yeah, how long ago was that? Save it sister, I've lived downtown for seventeen years and I've seen the neighborhood go through changes. Sure, they used to throw bodies out the windows of these buildings, but that was years ago. That was probably water from someone's rooftop jacuzzi.

Ha ha, right? Late the other night, Jim and I are on Spring, walking Wonton. A guy is walking on the sidewalk ahead of us when someone dumps a large amount of water out a window of the SB Manhattan, hitting him. He jumps out of the way, missing most of the deluge. Then, seconds later, someone throws a water bottle out the window and hits the sidewalk with a huge, sickening thud. That could've landed on me, or Jim, or my precious little Wonton. Stupid motherf*#$ing neighborhood.

Labels: 90014 Hayward Hotel, downtown Los Angeles, SB Lofts, SB Manhattan

I sat in my Wednesday night film financing class at UCLA, listening to Big Shot Producer lecture about the many ways to lower a screenwriter's quote, how to negotiate with writers and lessen our risk, how to not pay a writer and get away with it, etc. It was nothing new to me, nothing I hadn't heard from him before, and as a fledgling producer, something I thought I had to learn. I looked around the room at the many hopeful producers-in-training as they nodded sagely and scribbled notes furiously. Depression immediately followed the realization - everyone in the room would not hesitate one second to screw me. That feeling wasn't new to me, I've been in those rooms before. But this time there were 50+ people in the room. Even I wanted to screw me. I was conflicted, I was resolute, "Patty, Anna, Patty, Anna". It was a little overwhelming.

Since that night I've been extremely irritable. Some might even say bitchy. But mostly I was depressed. That hasn't helped me with my writing deadlines. And now, in this disastrous economy, I am tasked with raising $11 million in P&A financing for our third film project. All I wanted to do was lie down until this feeling went away. Then, thanks to Kevin at LA Observed, I read "Screenwriting in Hollywood: A Modest Proposal" and felt a little better. Here's an excerpt:

Novelists, playwrights and poets are not rewritten by other writers. Even journalists do the deed pretty much alone. But screenwriters not only routinely and eagerly replace each other, they are tactical in their competitive quest for credit, credit that is not only emotionally gratifying but financially existent. Without credit, future opportunity, immediate and contingent compensation, dissolve. All that hard work to get beyond base camp, undone. Back to square none. Meaning - what do you tell your family, friends, former classmates, neighbors, and people you’ve yet to meet - that you did work on something glamorous for possibly years even, but in the end, your name didn’t scroll by?

And the other question that will not leave your mind is the calculation of cash you didn’t get and residuals you will never see.

This belief and its subsequent practice of multiple screen authorship is a unifying principle that not only does not serve its community of believers, but actually endangers its members from achieving prosperity in a scarce economy.

I've come to the realization that producing is a necessary evil for me and I need to just get over it. Conquering the written word is still what makes me truly happy, but if I have to produce to protect my work or another writer's words and vision, then I'll take that battle on. A long time ago, someone once suggested to me that, "It won't hurt if you don't clench." I didn't buy it then, I don't think I'll buy it now. I think I'll try it my way. The picture I have in my head of the kind of producer I want to be is a little bit clearer now.

Labels: film, producing, screenwriting

McCain first used the work "gook" in the mass media in his 1973 article for U.S. News & World Report. The word appears 12 times in the article.

Most recently, McCain used the term in his 2000 presidential campaign, as documented by the San Francisco Chronicle.

To learn more about Mr. Tang's book, which also details McCain's connection to white supremacist groups, visit his web site, or read his blog on Daily Kos.

Labels: gook, Irwin Tang, John McCain, racism

Riga is an interesting mix of gothic, baroque, medieval, art nouveau and Soviet-era architecture. Here are a few pics from yesterday's tour of Old Town and New Riga, more can be found here.

Labels: Riga Latvia